State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid on Saturday said that the next two years will be critical for the energy sector of the country.
“In next two years, we have to be leapfrog in ending all our plans and there will be huge challenges,” he said while addressing a seminar titled, “Highest Utilisation of Natural Resources of Bangladesh: Philosophy of Bangabandhu” at Federation Bhaban in the city.
Read: Improving energy efficiency will be important for Bangladesh: WB
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI) organised the seminar with its president Jashim Uddin in the chair.
The State Minister also said that the country will come out of the gas crisis in the next two years.
“We’ll bring unutilised gas from Bhola to Dhaka while the huge underground gas pipelines will be replaced with new ones ,”he said adding, the pipeline project will require about Tk 12,000 crore to implement.
Read: Bangladesh encourages enhancing share of renewable energy in fuel-mix: Nasrul
About the power sector, Nasrul Hamid said that after achieving cent percent electricity coverage, now the government’s target is to provide uninterrupted and affordable electricity.
Echoing the junior minister, Energy Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Majumder said that industries will not face any gas crisis from January, 2026.
“We have already signed long term contracts with Qatar and Oman and efforts are on to sign three more long term deals,”he said adding, at the same time, preparation is at the final stage to sign more contracts to set up LNG terminals to increase storage and unloading capacity.
Read: Denmark keen to invest in offshore wind energy in Bangladesh: Envoy
Making a presentation on the topic, eminent energy expert Dr Badrul Imam said that the country’s two-third area still remains unexplored while the country is experiencing a huge gas crisis.
He said the best way to address the current gas crisis is to enhance local gas exploration.
But unfortunately exploration works are not getting due importance, he observed.
Dhaka Chamber president Sameer Sattar said that the initiatives should be taken immediately for gas exploration across the country with due importance.
Former vice president of FBCCI Dewan Sultan Ahmed said the Titas Gas authority often moves to remove illegal gas connections. But they never disclose how long these illegal consumers are using such gas without any payment.
Read: Energy cooperation has been the backbone of Bangladesh-Russia economic relations: Ambassador
FBCCI advisor Abdul Haque said that despite different initiatives there is no major progress in gas exploration and what is the gap that should be identified.
Businessman Abul Hasnat said that it is very unfortunate that many businessmen submit files for renewable energy projects at the ministry. But files do not move at the necessary pace. Even some files are kept for more than six months at one place.